Historians pay tribute following death of Holocaust survivor

The Stanley Burton Centre for Holocaust and Genocide Studies has joined in the world-wide expressions of regret on the death of Elie Wiesel.

Professor Aubrey Newman, from the Centre, said: “Having survived the horrors of Auschwitz and Buchenwald he above all came to epitomize the dilemmas of his fellow survivors.

“Reluctant to experience again all that he had gone through but impelled to promote as wide a knowledge as possible of all that had been done; caught up in all the contradictions as to how God could have permitted these things to have been done and yet despite that remaining an acknowledged Jew; insisting on the uniqueness of the Holocaust and yet speaking out against all instances of mass murder and genocide; the recipient of a Nobel Peace Prize for doing just that, he was well described by President Obama in a statement issued after the announcement of his death.

“He raised his voice, not just against anti-Semitism, but against hatred, bigotry and intolerance in all its forms. He implored each of us, as nations and as human beings, to do the same, to see ourselves in each other and to make real that pledge of ‘never again.’

“The ideals of Elie Wiesel inspired the founders of the Stanley Burton Centre to establish the Centre at the University of Leicester in order to promote the principles which he had enunciated.”